Arts review rejects takeover plan

By Adrian Browne
BBC Wales news

The report had been trailed as offering a fresh approach

A review has rejected assembly government plans to take over the funding of the six major arts companies from the Arts Council of Wales.

Instead, the review recommends a new arts board with representatives from the arts council, assembly government and other public bodies.

The board, chaired by the culture minister, would oversee arts strategy.

The review was commissioned after AMs rejected assembly government plans. The assembly will debate it on 6 December.

The report had been trailed as offering a 'fresh, radical, practical' approach to the arts.

Politicians of all colours are lining up to praise the review as some of the finest prose Wales has come up with.

But it is has to be said here, if nowhere else, that it is difficult to see where the fresh and radical stuff is.

Arms length

Much of the practical element seems to amount to the creation of the new arts board - yet another committee, something we are all too familiar with.

Opposition politicians had argued that directly funding Welsh National Opera; the BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Diversions dance group; Clwyd Theatre Cymru, Academi and the National Theatre of Wales would breach the "arms-length" principle.

The AMs had said it was important to keep politicians' hands off the purse strings to prevent political interference.

No doubt they are now happy with the idea that culture minister Alun Pugh wouldn't get his mittens on the cash.

Compromise

Mr Pugh could take comfort in the fact that, if the proposals are implemented, he'd have a seat at a table allowing him more involvement in funding issues involving the big six arts bodies.

Ms Stephens said there had been 'instability' in the arts in Wales

But the solution is a classic Welsh public sector compromise - get two opposing forces together in a committee and sprinkle a few other organisations around the table.

It doesn't stop there.

More committees would be established at regional level to link the arts council with local authorities.

Andy Warhol predicted that in the future everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. If he was looking at Wales these days perhaps he'd observe that soon everyone will be on 15 committees.

The independent review, chaired by Elan Closs Stephens, recommended that the existing arts council and culture board should be retained - rather than one of them getting the chop.

The council's role would be to concentrate on arts development.

The report also calls for incoming assembly governments to publish a charter underlining artistic freedom but setting out a strategic political direction for the arts in Wales. It won't make much difference, but it sounds good, doesn't it?

Over the next few days, we'll hear lots of Wales' great and the good praising this report as simply marvellous, brave, radical, clear and so on.

Whether or not the arts in Wales is any healthier today than it was yesterday is another matter altogether.

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It seems to me that those involved in the Arts in Wales have just been led around the mulburry bush and returned to the point where they started! The plan that the report seems to have put forward seems to be the scheme that was being followed before the 'Arts Council of Wales' was functioning in its current incarnation. It is, however, a credit to the review panel to keep Alun Pugh's grubby hands off Arts funding - I would like to pose the question of how qualified Alun Pugh is to actually be the WAG's Minister for the Arts? This seems to be too reminiscant of Yes, Prime Minister for me: surely wouldn't it be easier to let the Arts Council go on as it has, rather succesfully, for the furthering of arts and uplifiting of the people of Wales, rather than letting Rhodry and his boyo's (I include the women in that) run the show from the Kremlin, I mean Sennedd - to remove the Arts from Quango to Devolved 'Government' would be a terrible mistake, and have serious ramifications for the next decades.
Benjamin Phillips, Wales